Sovereign

     Okay, I'm hoping someone will fess up--I have no idea who dropped this off at our house yesterday afternoon!  But isn't it beautiful?  A crown atop a bed of flowers and palm branches.  I have it sitting right in the middle of our dining room table where I spend a lot of time working on Bible study lectures (and trying to monitor homework--HA!).  So whoever brought this, please let me know so I can THANK YOU SO MUCH!!  What a reminder sitting right in front of me--"Crown Him with many crowns, the Lamb upon His throne..."
     He is the King... and He is sovereign.  And the older I get, the greater the joy of knowing that --
     He. Is. Sovereign.
     As Caroline McMahon said last week, "He is sovereign... whether we like or not!"  But the more we come to know and love the Savior, the more precious, the more comforting this great truth becomes.  The truth that our King is King over all.  Absolutely all.  King over the good and the bad, the high and the low, the marvelous and the mystifying.
      Right now I'm listening to Chris Tomlin's beautiful song, "Sovereign," and the words express it all:
Sovereign in the mountain air
Sovereign on the ocean floor
With me in the calm
With me in the storm
Sovereign in my greatest joy
Sovereign in my deepest cry
With me in the dark
With me at the dawn
In Your everlasting arms
All the pieces of my life
From beginning to the end, I can trust You
In Your never failing love
You work everything for good
God whatever comes my way, I will trust You.
God whatever comes my way, I will trust You.
     Jonathan Parnell has written that "Humans tend to like the idea that we are captains of our own destinies.  Motivational glib like that will pack out self-help seminars.  But sooner or later, and hopefully sooner, we learn how bankrupt it all is.  We are not in charge, and that's a good thing.  Any peace and hope we have in our lives right now can be traced back to the fact that God alone is God, that He is the sovereign power behind everything."
     And John Piper explains: "God's sovereignty is... an invincible hope for tomorrow.  God's sovereignty means the good He intends for His children will not be deterred.  This means we can face anything.  All His promises to us will be fulfilled."
     Thank You Lord that You are KING and that You are sovereign.  Sovereign from the highest mountain to the deepest sea.  Sovereign from the first dawn that broke upon Adam's perfect garden to the last rays of sunset that will one day fall upon this broken planet before Christ redeems and restores it.  And sovereign in and over and through and upon all the places and people and moments in between.
     Sometimes I forget, Lord, and think I know better.  But I don't.  Never have, never will.  Only one King, and He is sovereign... over all.  "In Your never failing love, You work everything for good.  God whatever comes my way, I will trust You."   In You, the King, forever.   To God be the glory.